SYMPHONY X — V: The New Mythology Suite (review)

SYMPHONY X — V: The New Mythology Suite album cover

Album · 2000 · Progressive Metal

2.5/5 · 2010-05-13
SouthSideoftheSky

Rediscovery, Pt 2: The New Yngwie J. Malmsteen!

I am often surprised to see that many people rate this album as highly as, if not higher than, the brilliant The Divine Wings Of Tragedy. I find the present album less memorable, less original and less diverse compared to that earlier album. There is no doubt that this is another good Symphony X album, but it does not at all blow me away like The Divine Wings Of Tragedy did. For one, I think that this album is a little bit too long for its own good and while I have listened to The Divine Wings Of Tragedy in its entirety many times, I don’t think that I have listened to the whole of V: The New Mythology Suite more than once or twice in one go. Almost every track is enjoyable for sure, but after the first five or six tracks I tend to get a bit tired of it. Apart from the short Classical interludes, the songs have basically the same sound throughout, and with a running time of over an hour it tends to get a bit samey half way through. The Divine Wings Of Tragedy too runs for over an hour but I never got that feeling while listening to that album at least partly because that album is more varied but also because I simply find the material on that album stronger.

However, the excellent Egypt - which is my favourite track from this album - brings things back on track momentarily. But I think that this great song is actually better when heard alone than in the context of the album as a whole. I actually think that the album would have made a stronger impact had it ended after Egypt, alternatively had they put a radically different type of song there, a ballad for example, to let the listener catch his breath. There is a lot to take in here and it can be too much even for someone who enjoys this kind of Neo-Classical Prog Metal.

Though it is beyond doubt that Symphony X is heavily inspired by Yngwie Malmsteen, while listening to this album I sometimes get the feeling that I’m listening to Yngwie Malmsteen’s Rising Force. Not only is the guitar playing of Michael Romeo similar to that of Malmsteen, but some of the keyboard solos of Michael Pinnella are similar to those of Jens Johansson of Malmsteen’s band. This is not a major problem though, but the song Absence Of Light even has a riff that reminds strongly of one of Malmsteen’s riffs and that becomes a bit too much for me.

There are no real ballads or even semi-ballads on V and neither is there anything to correspond to the 20 minute plus title track on The Divine Wings Of Tragedy. The closing title track runs for 12 minutes, but despite its tasteful use of piano it is not as diverse and memorable as The Divine Wings Of Tragedy title track.

Overall, I find this album a bit overrated especially when compared to The Divine Wings Of Tragedy. Though most songs are good or very good, I often get the feeling that I hear things that I have heard done better elsewhere by Symphony X and others.